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| - Like anyone going to a body shop, they don't want to be there in the first place, so going to a body shop is usually under poor pretenses to start with. My case, I stupidly backed into a big guardrail fence, scraping my back bumper pretty bad in the process. Having never had body work done on a car, I took it to a few places for quotes. First place took several pictures, inserted a bunch of info in their computers, and spit an automated quote of $615 out. Time? Said it would take 3 - 4 days. I took it to another place: They took several pictures as well, inserted a bunch of info into their computer, and spit out an automated quote of $799. Said it would take about 3 days. Ugh, prices and time (meaning rentals) was kind of high for this...
At the suggestion of a coworker, I took my car into Keating Auto. I personally met and talked to Pat Keating (very nice guy) who looked over my car and quoted me $328. Wow! Helluvalot cheaper than the other two. Plus, I liked that he looked it over, made some mental notes, and knew how long it would take him with hours and supplies and figured the price out that way... as opposed to inserting some high estimates in a computer which pumped out generated prices for me. In addition, he said it would only take a day... so of course no rentals!
I made an appointment, and there was a 2 month wait to get in. While it would have been nice to have 'fast' service, I actually saw this as a benefit; a place with a several month wait, that has been around 20+ years, seems to be a place with a good reputation.
So I finally drop my car off the other day for my appointment, and get it back in the promised 1 day and promised price. Sorry I don't have any before and after pictures, but overall I was decently pleased, but not 100%... more like 90%. The scratches and dents in the bumper were pretty nasty and noticeable before I took it in. When I picked it up, it looked great. At first glance, I'd say it was new; shiny new paint which matches perfectly, and all looks well. However when I got down to inspect a lot closer, I noticed a few tiny indents where some of the major scratches could have been. I tried taking pictures, but they are so small that while I could see them, they don't show up on my camera even.
So all said and done, Pat Keating is a solid 4 stars. Ultimately I decided not to take the car back to see about touching up the tiny scratch indents. They are on the bumper, only noticeable when I get down and stare at them, and the bumper at a distance of more than a foot looks good as new. Plus I paid $328 and no rental fees... as opposed to close to a thousand if I went to the other places and would have had to get rentals.
If I need body work again and can wait awhile, I will be back to Pat Keating for sure, but will mention the slight indents from last time. By far the best value for the dollar, and as an aside, I supporting a local guy owning his own small business as opposed to spending double at a corporate place.
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